What She Knew

This chapter covers the third day of the investigation. Rachel begins by talking about the press conference. She arrives accompanied by Nicky and is having trouble controlling her roiling emotions. Jim gives her a script to review, but Rachel is so distracted that she can barely focus on the words. In spite of her troubled state, Rachel assures everyone that she can go through with it. Once the cameras are rolling, Rachel suddenly veers off-script. She challenges the abductor and says she will hunt him down and bring her son home. A cut on her head that she received while searching the woods for her son has begun to bleed, and a reporter points out that her hands are covered in blood.

Jim intervenes and returns to the prepared script while Rachel leaves the room to get control of herself. Afterward, Jim is angry because Rachel broke the cardinal rule in abduction cases. She challenged the abductor, and this is exactly what the carefully worded script was meant to avoid. After Rachel is sent home, she watches the coverage on TV. Although she felt euphoric at the time when she issued her challenge, she now realizes how grotesque she appeared onscreen. “There wasn’t a trace of dignity or vulnerability, or love for my son. I simply projected a raw, ugly rage that looked heinous, and unnatural” (136-137).

The video clip goes viral on the internet. When Laura and Nicky check the public reaction to Rachel’s outburst, they learn that everyone is convinced that Rachel did something to harm her son. Reporters mob Rachel’s front yard, making it difficult for Nicky, Laura, or Rachel to go about the business of living. Even though Laura and Nicky try to steer Rachel away from the internet, she checks for updates on her son’s case. “When the results came up I only needed one or two clicks before a feeling of dread coursed icily through me” (162).

At this point, Jim takes control of the narrative to review the same day’s events from his perspective. Right after the press conference, Fraser calls him on the carpet. She says that if Jim had assessed Rachel’s state of mind accurately, he never would have allowed her to speak. Fraser then sends Jim off to conduct interviews at Ben’s school.

Once there, Jim speaks to the headmaster, Damien Allen. Allen is a bland bureaucrat who offers little insight into Ben’s behavior. The boy’s teacher, Joanna May, is a bit more helpful. She says that Ben went through a rough patch emotionally after his parents divorced, but that he’s doing much better now. Ben’s teaching assistant, Lucas Grantham, has nothing to add.

Jim asks if any of the teachers observed Rachel exhibiting strange behavior. Joanna mentions an incident when Ben fell off a scooter and fractured his arm. His mother failed to notice how serious the injuries were at the time. Several months later, Rachel forgot to pick Ben up at school. Jim assumes both these instances can be attributed to the mother’s emotional stress during her divorce.

Jim feels uneasy about the vast number of adults who come in contact with children at Ben’s school. He confides to his assistant, Detective Woodley, “I was actually thinking about how vivid my memories of being primary-school age were, and it was making me scared for Benedict Finch, because of all the bad things that can be done to a child that age, so very easily” (155).

The final section of the chapter is told from Manelli’s perspective as she and Jim discuss the third day of the investigation. Jim is still relatively tight-lipped and resentful about being forced into therapy. He only comes alive during their conversation about police procedure in an abduction case.

Manelli asks if Jim feels any personal connection to the Finch case because his own father had died shortly before. “FM: Sometimes when we lose a parent it makes us reflect on our childhoods. It’s not an uncommon response to parental bereavement. That might have made you more vulnerable to identifying with Benedict Finch, and what could be happening to him” (172). Jim refuses to comment and abruptly announces that their session for the day is over.